Andoran Campaign

As the rest of the party wakes up, Ariana shows up walking out of the field. She has no idea why she was asleep in the field. The party continues on to Almas with not much happening until the party is once again bothered by zombie, or where they nombies or zinjas, anyway. Oliver brings forth the lantern, which is shining brightly. It seems to have the same effect as Roturm has on undead. But alas, the wicked wench choices then to show her true colors to the party by trying to backstab Oliver. Ariana fails at her attempt to slay Oliver and steal the lantern. Oliver turns invisible and tries to hide. Ariana is unable to find her with her dragon breath. Meanwhile the rest of the party tries to rein in Ariana without damaging her too much. They find out soon enough that she is not alone but haunted. The party does manage to drive off the haunt after a bit of damage. Her scarlet letter definitely seems to be gone now too. The party continues on without a thought of what happened and why. The group encounters a rather large earth elemental that just wants to go home so they send him home. Before he gets sent home, the elemental tells them he got there because the wizard that was summoning him was in some kind of an accident and the summons went wrong. The trip goes uneventful again until the party starts to encounter abandoned homesteads. Some burnt out some not. They encounter one freshly set afire but do not find much of anything. The only things they all seem to have in common are, there is really no signs of a fight and all the personnel effects are gone.

Xan nukes some goblins in field from orbit.
Group makes it to house and kills attackers but in the process kills the innocent family with a fireball.
While investigating site and burying body two bulletes attack and kill Oliver.
On the way back to Carpenden, the party is attacked by zombies of the goblins they killed.
The party goes back to Carpenden and gets Oliver raised.
They head out once Oliver is back.
They party stops by the farm house and find that the ogre is gone and that the obsidian circle has changed and is filled with necromantic magic. Which then changes to divination. Skeletal face with red glowing eyes in obsidian. Oliver cast Dispel on it and the circle implodes into a glass bead that Ariana picks up but in a spell pouch but then the marble disappears.
The party tails the ogre back to the road but losses the trail.
Missing marble on road goes from marble to eye to gone.
The party continues to Almas.
And the thief goes missing in a fog.

The party decides to spend time in Sauerton to make magic items and hang out, mistake number one for at least some. While waiting for the party to get on the road, Ariana and Veed decide to hit the town during a couple of evenings. Not scoring much at all except a small coin purse, they quickly become bored with the merchant class establishments they move on to the high class joints. Veed cannot get in because of a dress code but Ariana can. After several nights of not much happening and being snubbed, Ariana and Veed decide to tail one of the snubs home. Veed losing track of Ariana and hops on the back of a carriage and takes a joyride. Ariana follows her mark back and decides to scale what looks like an easy mark of a wall. Once she begins to ascend the wall, a Magic Mouth goes off and a ward activates casting a nasty hold spell. She is taken into custody. A High Inquisitor is called into to pass judgment. Rotrum manages to soften the penalty to a Mark of Judgment. Ariana can still practice her trade but just within sight of Rotrum or with his missive without the effects of the Mark happening. Ariana will have her stuff returned to her at the edge of town when the party leaves. The party finishes up and departs town. On the way to Carpenden, several strange things happen; a part of a horse, and boot with a leg in it, wondering globes of light. Finally reaching Carpenden, The party decides to high tail it through the town, except Oliver who goes for a roof run. Back on the road to home, the group encounters goblin signs and avoids them. The party scouts spot a house afire and goblins running like mad towards the blaze.

A Long Road Home………………
The party gathers itself together and heads out for Sauerton. The head through the west section of the Verduran Forest. Braybittle and his swarms are to be the party’s escort through the forest. Braybittle remains hidden for most of the trip. The journey to through the forest is for the most part without incident. The few exceptions are a troll attack on a wagon that was hauling spices. The patrol turn the spices over for the party to sell since there is no way of telling who or what company they might actually belong. The troll(s) are said to be moving east. The opposite way the part is headed. This is confirmed by Braybittle.
The Xan and Sol come across what appears to be husband and wife druids that are happily living in the woods.
The party finds a small treasure box inscribed with the words, “Beware Dirk the Dangerous”.
One night the watch sees what it thinks is some sort of apparition. Sol investigates and it appears to be a glowing semi-transparent figure carrying a lantern. The next morning Oliver discovers a lantern on the ground next to the wagon. The grass around the lantern is withered. There are markings on the lantern but are unrecognizable. Oliver takes the lantern and puts it in his sack much to Preturns dismay.
The other interesting forest encounter happens once the party nears, relatively, the ruins of Diggen’s Rest. The party seems to think they are being trailed by something but can never really figure out for sure if their suspicions of a green dragon are true or not. They proceed on only to be approached by an attractive eleven female clad in green leather armor but apparently unarmed. She buys the spices from them with what appears to be gold bars with Thassilonan markings on them. Once the party leaves the forest, they see and hear no more from Braybittle.
After leaving the forest, the group encounters some dirt mounds and freshly dug holes in the ground.
The party does spot a far off camp fire one night but nothing comes of it for them.
The group discovers a raided farm and the remains of the family. They find that the raiders came from out on the plains and returned the same way. A patrol comes by and the party informs them of what they found. After burying the bodies, the group decides to stay the night at the raided farm since it is getting late. Later that night, the lantern that Oliver took and put in his sack is out sitting on the edge of the wagon. After the lantern door is unlatched, an apparition appears from the light coming from the lantern. The apparition looks exactly like the one that was in the forest and is elven in appearance. New runes on the lantern can be seen and these are eleven in nature. The apparition floats over to the graves of the family, it stops and stays there for a brief moment, head bowed. Rotrum walks over to investigate. The rest of the party goes into battle mode waiting for the worst. The graves are briefly highlighted by a light blue fog which seems to sink into the graves. The apparition turns back towards the lantern and floats throw several of the party with no ill effect. Once at the lantern the apparition disappears along with the elven runes.
The party continues its travels after the night at the raided farm. The party does make it the rest of the way to Sauerton without further incident. In Sauerton, the party is able to liquidate a good bit of its extra baggage including the fey wine. The question then remains, how exactly to get back to Almas?

The party reaches the third and finally floor of the castle. They happen upon the treasure room first and plunder what is left after a thousand years of exile. The party discovers the upper balcony and the last of the Fellnight spriggan guards. The party dispatches them and moves on to a small door off the balcony. Beyond the door the party finds what seem to be guest rooms that have long been unused. Also off the balcony is a large set of double doors. Behind the double doors, they find and defeat Queen Rhoswen. Veed however is killed by being carried out a window by an air elemental. Ariana is also killed. The party uses the staff to seal the Faengard and force the recall of Rhoswen’s troops. They evacuate the building and the pocket realm. They are greeted by the unicorns that teleport them back to Bellis. There Veed and Ariana are restored to life. The party is heading back to the capital of Almas by way of Sauerton first.

The party starts exploring the second floor of the castle. The group comes upon an unusual ball going on in the main tower. All is not that it appears, the guests are not real but the usual suspects are, pixies. A battle ensues, no surprise there. The group retreats to the southeast tower to hold up and end up battling the last of the pixies there. The party rests up and continues on to find the kitchen. The group y fights one satyr while the satyr and Ariana disappear into the northwest tower for a little rendezvous. But the rendezvous was not meant to be, because the only relief the satyr gives Ariana is that of her heavy purse. Meanwhile back at the battle, the satyr there blinds several of the PCs and then attempts an escape. He is confronted by Oliverus. They fight and end up grappled to the point that Oliverus almost ends up going out a window. The party recovers and presses on to find a garden tended by a shambling mound. The shambling mound is not overly aggressive and so the party leaves it alone.

After a bit of searching, the party finds the secret entrance and opens it. They follow a narrow ledge upstream uphill. The party comes to a large pool fills half this cavern. This cavern widens into a chamber. To the east and south, recessed ledges overlook the room. Alcoves to the south and southwest end in double doors. Before the party has a real chance to explore further, they are attacked by an earth elemental. The combat draws the attention of a couple of Fellnight spriggans which also move to attack. During the battle some bright shinnies are spotted on one of the ledges that are in the cavern. Long, grayish roots descend from an open shaft in the cavern’s ceiling down to this raised ledge. Several objects gleam and glitter amid a pile of bones situated among the rocks below. The party does discover treasure on the one ledge but not before discovering that it is due to assassin vines inhabiting the pit above the ledge. After dispatching the vines, the party collects the treasure and moves on. One set of the double doors leads to a set of stairs leading upward the other leads to the dungeon Braybittle spoke of. A smoking pit of hot coals and ash lies in the center of this room. Barbed cells line the walls, and a huddled figure lies within an enclosure in the south wall. This prison holds Cort Finlen, the last of nine lumberjacks kidnapped from a Lumber Consortium camp in the Verduran Forest. He awaits further interrogation about Bellis and its environs at the hands of Rhoswen’s chief interrogator, Jaxir. He knows little about the rest of the palace, but can describe the satyr to his rescuers. The party secures Finlen’s safety in the secret entrance tunnel and then move on to the next set of double doors in the dungeon. The party opens these next double doors to find the torture chamber, two more Fellnight spriggans and the satyr, Jaxir. Torturous implements highlight this room, including a rack, a set of stocks draped with several well-used whips, and a table housing a complicated pulley system for driving thorns into victims from multiple angles. Two punctured bodies, long deceased, lie upon the floor. Having pennied the doors behind them with copper coins, the party is alerted to a pair of Fellnight spriggans moving up behind them. The battle begins with soon after Preturn suddenly siding with the satyr and the Fellnight spriggans. The battle turns against the dungeon denizens and the satyr flees into the next room. Arianna hears the pleas by Xan for help but is not able to before Xan is silenced. After having the satyr flee into the next room seems to have left Preturn dazed and confused. Arianna and Veed break into the next room where they find the satyr and a dying Xan. They kill Jaxir, rescue Xan, and the spell seems to break on Preturn so that at least for now he is not killing all the party members. The party gathers themselves, and the lone lumberjack, together and settle into rest. After resting they explore the rest of the tower and find Jaxir’s bedroom and his treasure. The party heads upstairs having explored the entire dungeon, as far as they know anyway. Arriving on the main level, the party unleashes Hell, or at least Dis anyway, by battling several Fellnight spriggans, a half dozen worgs, and four gargoyles. One of the gargoyles does get away and flies toward the highest tower before disappearing from sight. The group opens the double doors in the courtyard. The doors open to reveal a wide entry hall lined with prickly spines serving as columns. The floor is hard-packed earth, and windblown leaves gather near the entrance. At the end of the hall, raised steps lead to a set of towering double doors as the passage turns west. An illusory wall covers a pit between the first four columns, dropping into area of the assassin vines below.

The party begins its journey to the castle of Queen Rhoswen. They try and stay off the road and out of sight as much as possible. The main road to the castle is fairly obvious. Xan reports back that from the air she can see several more campfires like the one they encountered at the gate to the Fellnight Realm. She can also see several other areas alight by either Faerie Fire or Dancing Globes or some other magical source. The party locates the Fellnight spriggan that got away from the first battle and easily defeat it.
As the party is getting closer to the castle, Xan spots a flattened out clearing on the road ahead. The party decides to circumnavigate the area. Xan goes out for a routine surveillance flight and does not come back. The party decides it needs to look for her and runs into its own issues with two pixies and an awakened bee swarm. After dealing with most of that issue the party witnesses an exchange between Braybittle and a satyr named Jaxer Tarm and several Fellnight spriggans. After a heated discussion, the satyr and Fellnight spriggans leave with a squirming sack.
The party falls back into the forest to discuss what they saw and are attack by the pixies that got away from the previous encounter. Once the pixie is dispatched, the party decides to parlay with Braybittle. The exchange with Braybittle goes rather well. He is very disillusioned with the way he has been treated by Rhoswen and has had enough of her. Although he will not accompany the party into the castle he does give them the location to a secret entrance, several gifts, and some information they can use. For his part, he will cause trouble outside of the castle to try and draw out even more of the guards that might be in the castle. He knows that Rhoswen is over confident with her plans and has sent most of her army out into the Material plane. The satyr they saw was Rhoswen’s torturer and confirms that they took Xan to the castle for interrogation. The torture chamber is on the lower level where the secret entrance comes in at. The secret entrance is where a stream pours forth from under the castle. Rhoswen grew the castle out of a single thistle so most of the walls inside and out of the castle at like a briar patch.
The party sets off across the plane in search of the stream and the secret entrance while Braybittle, his companion insect, and several more awakened bee swarms heads out the other way. The party finds the stream but curiously it actually flows into the castle by going uphill. They also discover that the only way to get near the castle quickly is to go by boat downstream uphill. The party manages to avoid a group of Fellnight spriggans and worgs also. The party locates the secret entrance and now just needs to get it open.

After having recovered the stones and a lock iron chest from an underwater cave at the upper level of Dead Man’s Drop, the party finds themselves surrounded by at least 40 Fellnight Spriggans. A familiar voice rings out, echoing through the ravine. “Well done!” the familiar voice of Tenzekil Braybittle calls out, “but the wardstones will do you no good! The first army of Queen Rhoswen has already arrived. She will claim this forest, and you can do nothing about that. Now put the stones back, lay down your weapons, and perhaps we’ll let you live!” The hum of thousands of bees punctuates his warning as a rising swarm fills the sky. However, a Sense Motive check sees through Tenzekil’s lies. Queen Rhoswen greatly fears losing the wardstones and has no intention of letting the party go.

However shortly after Tenzekil’s speech the Fellnight spriggans begin to close in around the party. None too soon after the speech the cavalry also arrives, almost literally. Several unicorns, treants, and fey show up and start attacking the spriggans. The unicorns, led by the one the party recused, Palombier, call to the party to come down the ravine and climb on so they can teleport you out of the ravine. The party makes its way to the bottom of the ravine, after having battled a couple spriggan and is teleported by the unicorns away from the fight.

The unicorns abruptly arrive within a forest glade unaffected by the strange mist that has blanketed the forest for the past several days. Instead, faerie lights illuminate the clearing, dancing between the trees. Several creatures look up at your arrival—a host of centaurs, wood elves, satyrs, and sprites— all part of an encampment clearly armed for war. The party are made as comfortable as possible and asked to stay for the Conclave. The party mingles with the other groups gathered and discovers that at least one is considering siding with Queen Rhoswen. The party gets invited to the Conclave once it begins. The main speakers are Fira, Vinroot, and Devarre. Sensing that Rhoswen fears the PCs, Devarre proposes that the party face the queen in her own palace, even as the other fey engage her army on the battlefield. The unicorns volunteer to carry the PCs into the Fellnight Realm if they agree to stop Rhoswen’s tainted magic from taking root on Golarion. Devarre explains they must repair the ring of wardstones with those they reclaimed from the pool. Then, after reaching the highest tower of Rhoswen’s palace, they can reactivate the Faengard with the Crook of Cildhureen, provided they can pry it from the fey-queen’s hands.

As a demiplane, the Fellnight Realm has the following traits:Timeless Aging does not occur in the Fellnight Realm. Hunger, thirst, and the effects of poison or healing all still apply, but Rhoswen and her minions exist as immortal creatures. Outsiders also stop aging upon entering the demiplane, but such effects retroactively apply when they leave.Self-contained shape The borders of the Fellnight Realm wrap in on themselves in a spherical plane, bringing travelers back to their original starting point after only a few weeks of travel.Mildly evil-aligned The crook of Cildhureen has allowed Rhoswen to extend much of her malign influence and emotional instability over her realm. As a result, creatures of good alignment suffer a –2 circumstance penalty on all Charisma-based checks within the demiplane.Enhanced magic Illusion spells with the shadow descriptor and conjuration spells with the creation descriptor act as if cast with the Extend Spell metamagic feat if they have duration other than instantaneous. Such spells do not require higher-level slots.Dim light The sky of the Fellnight Realm looks like a night full of bright stars, though its two moons match Golarion’s moons. The sun never shines here, though plants grow normally, partially sustained by energy of the First World. Ambient illumination outdoors is typically dim light at all times, though lights (such as torches and light spells) work normally and storm clouds may temporarily block the starlight and moonlight.

Veed and Felix advance through the opening into the Fellnight realm. They sneak off to the side once the spot, just on the other side of the opening spriggans and worgs. Perturn, uninformed of the enemies on the other side of the portal, walks through and is attacked by the spriggans with their thorn javelins. The worgs notice Felix and attack Veed’s consort. The worgs and two of the three spriggans are killed quickly. The ward stones are placed where they should be and the runes on them glow slightly.

Fellnight Spriggans easily mopped up. Unicorn and dryad saved. Druid freed from domination by Fellnight will-o-wisp. Rotram does his best Mythbusters but forgets to substitute himself with Buster. Group finds stones, and some treasure, after defeating water elementals in what seemed to be a D&D 4th edition fight. And then bleached gnome and about 3 dozen of his friends show up.